Hercules

Hercules

Rating 7 out of 10
I generally like movies like this.  300 is one of my all time favorites.  Hercules is no 300, but if you watch the trailer and feel you want to see it I think you will be entertained.  I was.

Hercules is a half man/half god when his father fooled around with a human woman.  Seems these gods could not keep their hands off the human women.  When Zeus fools around with a human woman his son looks like he was chiseled out of granite and is an incredible warrior.  In this movie Hercules is played by Dwayne Johnson who on an average day looks like he was chiseled from stone.  He has buffed up even more for this movie.

Hercules since the murdering of his beautiful wife and kids has turned with his small band of warriors to  be a sword for hire wanting to get together enough gold coins together to retire to the mountains where he can be away from all people.  You know how this goes.  They need to do one more job to have enough gold to walk away from it all.  In comes Lord Cotys (John Hurt) and his lovely daughter who need his help defeating some evil enemies and offer to pay as much gold as they can carry.  Amazingly enough this don't go as planned.

You don't go to this movie for an intricate plot.  You go for lots of action and the Rock throwing people around like rag dolls.  This movie does not disappoint on that ground.  For me it was disappointing having this movie have a PG-13 rating which at times turns the fighting to a cartoonish way.

Overall I was entertained.  Saw it on the big IMAX screen.  That was very good.  I would say if you have any plans of seeing this movie it needs to be watched on a big screen rather than renting at home.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes

Rating 7 out of 10

I saw the first movie in the Planet of the Apes reboot in 2011 and was not really impressed.  I gave it a 5.5 rating.  I didn't plan on seeing this version of Apes until the trailers drew me in.  This movie is much better than the last one.

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes is in the future when a virus has killed off most of the human population yet it did not effect the Apes at all.  Somehow the apes have learned how to build places to live in the mountains, ride horses, build fires and communicates via sign language.  At times they can even speak english!  They think all the humans are gone as they have not seen one in years.

Crazy things happen when a couple humans show up and a group have been living in San Francisco thirty miles away.  The humans are running out of power and their one hope is the electric power plant which happens to be in the back yard of the apes.  The apes don't trust the humans and want nothing to do with them.  Most of the humans don't trust the apes and are not nearly as surprised to se the Apes speak english as I would have been.

There are good and bad both on the human side and the apes.  Eventually they go to war and the apes sneak in and steal many of the humans guns.  The effects are as incredible as you might guess.  We saw the movie in the 3D format only because it was the only time that worked.  I would say we got zero benefit for our extra dollars other than looking cool in our dorky glasses.

The movie is a little longer than it needs to be but I was mostly entertained.  A little peeved that it seemed to more be a setup for Apes 3 rather than conclude this one.  I would say it's worth seeing at the theater.

How to Train Your Dragon 2

How to Train Your Dragon 2

Rating 8 out of 10

I saw the original How to Train Your Dragon more by accident than a movie I really wanted to see.  The movie I wanted to see had a bad start time so I saw this one instead.  I was pleasantly surprised at what turned out to be great movie.  I sang it's praises and don't know anyone that didn't like it.  I'm glad to say Dragon 2 is as good or better than the original from 2010 (can't believe it's been four years!).

It's been years since Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) showed his rough and tough Viking chief dad that Dragons were not the evil man killers they had fought for generations but just misunderstood animals that were kind at heart.   Hiccup has grown up and dragons have become a part of every day life at their viking village by the sea.  Hiccup is not content with staying close to home.  When he rides his dragon he likes to travel far away and explore.

On one of his exploration trips he comes across an evil enemy that has fought Chief Stoick (Gerard Butler) in the past and has assembled a dragon army with intent of taking over.  Of course it's up to Hiccup and his band of misfits to save the village and they find surprises along the way.

The movie is written with a witty tone that will entertain children and adults alike.  At an hour and forty five minutes it moves along at a pace that keeps everyones attention.  The voices are spot on and the animation shows once again how far they have come.  There is a 3D version but as you know I don't care for 3D.  I was impressed enough with the 2D version.

If you liked the first one you will enjoy this version.  If you didn't see Dragon 1 it's time to rent it and then go see Dragon 2.  You will be entertained.